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Applebee's

Applebee's review: bad customer service and food! 26

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Author of the review
12:00 am EDT
Featured review
This review was chosen algorithmically as the most valued customer feedback.

On Sept 23. 2007 my family and I went to Applebees for my birthday dinner. This is the place I picked to celebrate my birthday. We were sat at a table and ordered our drinks. We were then told there were no clean glasses for drinking. Needless to say I was shocked. So we waited until the dishwasher got us some clean glasses. We then preceded to order our meal which my sister ordered to $10.99 trio dinner, my other sister ordered a a salad and a sandwich, my mother ordered the rib platter and I also ordered the rib platter with onion rings instead of fries. We sat there a long time waiting on our meal and then they brought me the wrong thing, cold fries instead of onion rings, no barbecue sauce and forgot my cole slaw. They did not even bring my mother the right rib meal they brought her the basket. My sister's sandwich was cold and they brought the wrong kind of salad, she ordered the pecan chicken they brought her just a regular one. My night was ruined with cold food and poor service. slow getting the food to us and then being the wrong stuff. We spent around $50.00 dollars that night we should of went to McDonalds. Sorry to say that. I thought maybe you should know what a experience we had!

Update by Sharon Campbell
Sep 25, 2007 7:12 pm EDT

I hope this experience does not happen to anyone else. I used to love going to Applebees. But now I don't know if I will go back

26 comments
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anthony sala
, US
Mar 09, 2016 9:35 pm EST

My husband & I ate in your Johnstown, NY restaurant. The sirloin steak was to be medium. One end was well done, the other raw. It was the toughest steak I've ever eaten. I would never order it again.

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Reviewer42456
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Feb 25, 2016 5:02 pm EST

We went to Applebee's on Brainerd road in Chattanooga, Tn. on 2/16/ 2016. Ordered steaks, one was supposed to be well done the other one medium well. They had blood coming out of them, sent them back, they came back and they still were not right. Manager did't seem to care. Applebee's was our favorite place to eat, not anymore. We probably want be going back. Was very disappointed

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Zoe Parry
, US
Nov 28, 2015 10:51 pm EST

I know this happened awhile ago, but as a server, it's illegal for us to serve drinks without a legal ID. It may have been her birthday but we could get fined and/or fired if doing so. If you order drinks, and nothing is wrong with them, you will still have to pay for them. It's really not a reason to dislike the entire company.

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Barb Earnest
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Jun 08, 2008 6:30 pm EDT

We went to Applebees tonight at seven o'clock and the salad did not have avacados on in and there was no beer on tap available and there was no fountain drinks available.

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laumar
, US
Sep 17, 2014 8:46 pm EDT

applebees in casselberry florida sucked the manger and waitriss took my daughter for her birthday for dinner and have a drink, when we went there it was happy hour and we got to for one i had beer, my mom had a drink my daughter ordered a rum and coke but forgot her ID she looks her age but she did have a pic of her I D on her phone still would not give her, her drink, brouhgt out 2 drinks at the same time had to tell her to go put it a way cos we did not want to have 2 drinks sitting on the table getting hot, took forever to order the food, by that time we were mad told them that we did not want the order and give us the check so we can go, need less to say we did not even drink our drinks and still had to pay for them, and plus all the crap the manger gave us .my daughter did not have a good birthday THANKS TO APPLEBEES, , WILL NEVER GO AGAIN AND I WILL LET EVERY ONE I KNOW NOT TO GO THERE ANY MORE .AND I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE .THEY SUCK .

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Dinadra Phillipe-Hennington, IDS
Chester Springs, US
Aug 24, 2013 6:50 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

...Happy Birthday Sharon!

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teesanders
Houston, US
Jul 28, 2013 1:32 am EDT

Please do not go to Applebees, unless you want crappy food. It is amazing to me how this place is even in business. The food sucks. It is not worth eating. The food is not fit for a dog.

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need lessons in customer service
, US
Jun 20, 2013 1:12 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I went to the apple-bees in montebello california the food was not great too much salt the servings were small I asked were is the bread they charge additional for the bread we had sat outside they took forever to take our order and when we did get our food the waitors were screaming back and fourth gossip about the other waitors and waitresses while I was trying to have a peaceful dinner I thought how rude i was going to say something but i just wanted to get out of there I will never go back thats for sure unhappy unsatified customer .

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togood4u
University Heights, US
Jun 30, 2012 2:30 pm EDT

Beware of the applebees on cedar and warrensville...there is some kind of scam going on there..the bar maid keeps her purse next to the register and she has a stamp in her purse to take an imprint of you credit card..

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Why not?
Brighton, US
Jun 07, 2011 2:31 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I understand that these waiters and waitresses are working for low wages and I am always a good tipper IF I get good service. Put it this way, at my job, I have to depend on what you buy to keep my job so why should I go to your job and get treated like crap and give you a big tip for it? If you come to my table and are nice and respectful and do what you can to give me good service you are going to get atleast the 15% tip. If you come to my table and act like you don't give a damn about me and the money I am paying for this meal, don't expect to get anything from me.
Anyway, I don't blame most of my issues with the servers. My last visit I had a bad steak so the manager came out and told me he took that $9.99 off my check. Well, on the check it shows it taken off, but I can add and I can use a calculator, it ONLY shows that taken off, it isn't really taken off. So on my what should have been $52 check I paid $62 plus the tip ended up being $74. Why shouldn't I feel ripped off?

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The best you'll ever get
, US
May 17, 2011 9:41 pm EDT

It is true that Applebee's only cares about the bottom line, so any cost cutting corners will be taken. The amount of jobs they expect the employees to do in the amount of time given is almost impossible for even the best and brightest . Service ultimately suffers due to not having anyone to run the food, or sometimes expo it. It is the servers jobs to answer the phone, take to go orders, bus all tables, refill soap and tp and towels in the bathrooms, and be an apple buddy to any other lazy coworker. Applebees doesnt want to pay to have someone clean the facilities, so you can expect dirty bathrooms most of the time. All for 2.13 an hour. Then we run out of silverware, have to wash dishes on top of giving great service, but you can't effectively give the time to guests when the place is not running as a restaruant should. If they werent so cheap, they would attract better workers and more guests with a smoother dining experience. The system is totally flawed.

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f.u.whiners
, US
Dec 31, 2010 4:13 pm EST

You all seem like nieve Whiney [censor] [censor]es, we want the world and we want it for half price, we want it hot and we want it to taste Luke we spent 3 times as much, or we will complain to get it for free. Oh and what the [censor] is a tip?

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Tanna Marie
Harpsburg, US
Oct 13, 2010 6:57 am EDT

No, servers dont make minimum wage, we make 2.30 per hour...not 7 something an hour. I dont even know what minimum is here actually.So yeah, a 2.00 tip is definately NOT the highlight of my day. Not only that we have to split our tips with the bartender and hosts that seat you. And for those of you who are habitual low tippers no matter the quality of your service and food, rest assured none of us are going to go out of our way to make sure your visit is outstanding. I guarantee people who are known for tipping the customary 15 % will have us servers at every beck and call. So...word to the wise..

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Rotten Apple, B.
Bronx, US
Jan 29, 2010 2:25 pm EST

I strongly agree.

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Rotten Apple, B.
Bronx, US
Jan 29, 2010 2:24 pm EST

I use to work for the applebees in co-op city in the bronx, nyc. If anyone really wants to know the horrors that I've seen just contact me at wazy123@hotmail.com, where I can tell you stories of how I found two live baby mice in the kitchen under the food line while I was sweeping up to go home one night. Or the mouse droppings I found in the fajita wrap bowls that the managers told me to run through the same machine that they wash all the dishes and silverware in and serve wraps out of them to the guests ( I refused), so the manager/s had other watiers do it and threatend to fire me if I didn't report back to the tables or told my uninlightend guests about what they were truly experiencing?

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joey69
Atlanta, US
Dec 27, 2009 6:20 pm EST

What do you people expect? It's fracking Applebees! Why not just go to a locally owned restaurant and get better food, better service for the same price!

Corporate food chains mass produce food from the cheapest ingredients available. There is nothing "homemade, " nothing "authentic" about it. The food is chocked full of pesticides, hormones, and other little "additives" to give it that home-cooked flavor - served to you by people working at minimum wage who couldn't give a ### whether you enjoyed your meal or not (trust me, your $2.00 tip is NOT the highlight of their day).

Y'all have no one to blame but yourselves!

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Bidno
New York, US
Jul 13, 2009 2:37 pm EDT

Where was this because I dont even think this is legal. You should report them to the company itself. If I had enough I'd pay you back your money and give you a free meal wherever you want [but only you and another family because, well, we're in a recession, right.] I have never had an experience like this. I personally like Applebees, they just gave me a crap load of gas. hehehe.

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tina nichols
Littleton, US
Jul 02, 2009 3:11 pm EDT

the applees on the lisbon road meodow street in littleton nh women beware dont let your husband or boyfriend or alone to the bar area there is a bartender named brandi and she flirts with the men and tells them how good they look and calls them sweetheart and honey and tries to promote her own business by doing this then she will go behind the bar and start dancing around and i see the manager just standing there watching her and doing nothing this really angers me never again will i go there

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Art Ramzy
Sacramento, US
Jun 16, 2009 5:10 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I was at Applebee's on 3601 Truxel Rd. in Sacramento, CA on Sunday June 14, 2009 and had a pretty good dinner with my son. I gave our waiter Isaac, my gift card which had $100 on it as our bill came to $53.14. I gave Isaac $6 cash for the good service and told him I would be back the next day to bring my daughter to dinner since she had to work that Sunday. Well on Monday I call to verify how much I had on my card and it was only $40.96. So when I arrived at Applebees on Monday, I asked to speak to the manager. The district manager Lalo, came to our table and I explained the situation to him that I only wanted to give Isaac a $6 tip not $12 because I gave him cash and he took $6 from the card also because I had put $6 in the tip amount on the reciept and signed it. I know I should have wrote "cash" next to the amount but since I gave Isaac the cash in his hand and he saw on the reciept how much I was giving him he knew he was getting a $6 tip. After explaining this to Lalo, he said he would have to call the General Manager Debbie to inform her of the situation. Debbie came to the table and I told her what had happened and she said "you signed the reciept and it is not our responsibility to make sure how much you want to tip". So I said clearly I was giving Isaac a $6 tip and maybe I should have wrote either 0 in the tip amount or "$6 cash". Debbie made no effort to try to rectify the problem just it's my fault and too bad. Manager's like Debbie is the reason lawsuits are brought on corporations, treating customers any kind of way. She obviously condones stealing from her employees and I look at it as Isaac is a thief for taking the $6 cash and taking $6 from the gift card. I was pretty upset about the situation, until Lalo came back to our table and said that he would not charge me for my daughters salad which was $8.99 and treated me like a customer should be treated when patronizing a restuarant. I then gave our waiter Shane a $6.94 tip cash of course. Had it not been for Lalo the district manager, I would most likely not come back to Applebee's and would have spreaded negative comments about the service to all my friends, co-workers, and family. Debbie (white) General manager, Isaac (white) waiter, Lalo (latino) district manager, me Art Ramzy(black) customer. I am most certain that debbie being who she is and in the managerial role and me being who I am a black customer played a good part in her decision not to do anything at all about situation. Lastly, $6 is a small amount of money to make a customer feel better, and for that amount Debbie will have Applebee's in trouble over a larger issue with that attitude.

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james phelps
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Nov 13, 2008 5:18 pm EST

i also work at applebees they ###ing suck there managers are like twelve years old and don't know what there doing are don't care there food is microwaved and unless you are female and willing to let the managers kiss on you are touch you like the crack [censored]s they are you will never get a promotion

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Bob
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Jun 22, 2008 5:30 pm EDT

Haha you're an idiot. Gift card for more crappy food?

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Jeanette
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Jun 22, 2008 3:37 pm EDT

Did you complain to the manager? You should have demanded that some or all of your food be free (at least your mom and sister's, since they didn't get what they ordered), after all THEY messed up. If they wouldn't give you the meal free they should have given you a gift card or SOMETHING.

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Lee
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Mar 15, 2008 12:46 am EDT

Let me tell you, Applebee's is not a restaurant it's a food factory! I work at Crapplebee's and I would warn all of you to never eat at Applebees, especially on a busy night. Trust me, you don't want to know the process your food goes through before it gets to your table. The problem is, they serve to many people in a short amount of time. So when the cooks are back there in the kitchen trying to make 150 orders within 20 minutes because the stupid managers are on your ### about ticket times, it gets super nasty back there. I wouldn't want any food that's going into my body to touch those nasty cutting boards. Plus none of the meats or sea food is fresh, it's all frozen, and almost everything else is super processed. Applebee's is a big joke, it's to bad so many people like to eat there. False advertisement, and lying to the public to make money...

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brent fuller
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Oct 10, 2007 7:04 pm EDT

I have never been so embarrassed while being ripped off out of $18 just for the pleasure. We live in a smallish town. In other words, Applebees may be considered one of the nicer restaurants in town.

But who can I complain to about this. I got 5 rib tips and 21 limes, all because i asked for a few limes squeeze on the ribs. I got fries so soaked (all of them in barbecue sauce that they were inedible). I got no knife or fork. I got no napkins. And my favorite part, the coleslaw was less than half full in that little cup they give you.

Not only that, at least 4 wait staff opened up my to go bag, presumably not to breathe on it, but to laugh and the predominance of limes. I'm sick of this place where the managers are 15 years old and don't give a darn whether anyone is satisfied.

I could bring you up story after story and you might ask, "why do you keep going?" Such a good question but there's like 4 restaurants in town that aren't Chinese takeout after 7 pm and then some people from work for some reason like the atmosphere.
All I know is I want my $18 back and a company that takes it seriously that they franchise their name out. Because let me tell you, this one in Buffalo, MN 55313 is a joke!
Brent Fuller.
[protected]
brentalanfuller@msn.com
Please, Please. Whom may I complain to?

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matt
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Oct 07, 2007 6:46 pm EDT

lol what they do to our food in the kitchen?

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AB Delker
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Sep 25, 2007 9:52 pm EDT

My sons and I ate at apple bees Sunday sept 23,2007 I ordered a shrimp half salad and when I say half, I mean they only gave me half ! for around 7 dollars. It looked like a salad you would make for a child. I did not get my moneys worth. How expensive is a salad to make ?! Lettuce is not expensive at all. The waiter spilled tea on my son. Oh by the way, he suggested the half shrimp salad! what a mistake! The dressing tasted like pancake syrup mixed with vinegar. It was so sweet and didn't taste like a salad dressing. We never know what people are doing to our food in the kitchen, do we? Would they eat it? Now really?! My sons food was fine except the quesadillas wasn't as much as I thought it should be for the price. People were mostly drinking there and watching TV. They looked they were there for the beer, since it was Sunday,and hard to get then. But the atmosphere was nice and everyone was quite and I could relax. I don't think the manager was anywhere around. I'm going to do a survey and tell them about it. They need to know what's going on when the cat is away.